# sackcloth and ashes

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/sackcloth-and-ashes
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

A public display of deep grief, mourning, or remorse.

## Examples

- After the blunder, the manager was in sackcloth and ashes for a week.
- The company issued a grovelling apology and put on a display of sackcloth and ashes that fooled no one.
- There was no need for sackcloth and ashes, the chairman told him; a simple correction and a lesson learned would do far more good than the elaborate public self-flagellation he seemed so eager to perform.

## Origin

Sackcloth and ashes was a recognised ritual of mourning and repentance across the ancient Near East, and the Bible mentions it repeatedly — Mordecai puts on sackcloth and ashes in Esther 4:1, and Jesus refers to the custom in Matthew 11:21. Sackcloth was coarse, uncomfortable goat-hair fabric, and ashes were smeared on the head or sat in, both visibly signalling grief or contrition. The point was that the sorrow or penitence be seen: this was mourning made public and physical, a deliberate outward sign of an inward state. In English to be in sackcloth and ashes means to display open, sometimes exaggerated remorse or grief — and the phrase often carries a dry note, hinting that the show of penitence may be a touch more theatrical than the feeling behind it.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.